An energetic thriller with a memorable protagonist and superb characterization.
A small-town Texas lawyer unexpectedly becomes a negotiator when terrorists kidnap the U.S. president in this fifth installment of a series.
Donnie Ray Cuinn has no desire to attend President Salmon Roe’s upcoming speech at the Evergreen Plant in Velda, Texas. After all, the Texas attorney didn’t vote for the man he deems “the World’s Biggest Hypocrite.” Joseph Jones, however, is on high alert; he’s leading the Islamic State in the Americas, a terrorist faction, in a plot to abduct Roe. The president will be announcing the Extreme Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, or X-Bomb, which will begin production at Evergreen. Meanwhile, the first lady tries pushing her husband toward more peaceful goals: renounce the bomb and, instead, fight to end hunger with the intent of achieving peace in the Middle East. But her plans go sideways when the ISA takes control of the plant and holds President Roe hostage. That’s when Donnie suddenly finds himself involved; Joseph informs the FBI that he’ll only talk to Donnie. The Secret Service already had eyes on Donnie, as apparently Joseph, whose ISA affiliation is well known, had scoured the internet for information on him. Though Donnie has no idea who this man is, he heads into Evergreen to begin an impromptu negotiation with Joseph. As the ISA’s purpose becomes clearer, Donnie learns of a startling link between the lead terrorist and himself. He can only hope that negotiations end without anyone dying.
As in preceding installments of Taylor’s series, Donnie shares the spotlight with a motley cast. For example, Roe, an insufferable buffoon and homophobe, adds humor; when he’s not immediately certain the abduction is legit, he simply continues eating his lunch. Other characters are much more likable and often come with their own engrossing subplots. These include Ethan Gahli, an unlucky Secret Service agent kidnapped alongside Roe, as well as Donnie’s friend Eugene Pervoy, who has a potential windfall when POTUS seems keen on buying his ranch. Such an extensive cast helps the story maintain momentum, though it’s quite some time before the terrorists’ plot finally unfolds. Donnie is a well-developed protagonist whose hang-up on a lost love causes a rift in his current marriage. It’s also gratifying to see how Donnie handles himself when out of his element. Taylor excels at establishing scenes, particularly once the chaos starts: “In the large departure lounge, tables had been pushed together. Men, some in uniform, some in dress shirts, some wearing Homeland Security vests, sat around the table. Behind each were their aides, balancing laptop computers on their knees. Several phone conversations were going on at once.” The eventual reveal of Donnie and Joseph’s connection, though an effective turn, opens up a host of possible avenues that the narrative doesn’t fully explore. Nevertheless, other surprises crop up in the final act while the ending offers resolution across the board, accommodating each of the story’s myriad characters and subplots.
An energetic thriller with a memorable protagonist and superb characterization. (dedication, author's notes, acknowledgements, author bio)Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-63299-329-8
Page Count: 248
Publisher: River Grove Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Gloriously artificial, improbable, and ingenious. Fans of both versions of Horowitz will rejoice.
What begins as a decorous whodunit set in a gated community on the River Thames turns out to be another metafictional romp for mystery writer Anthony Horowitz and his frequent collaborator, ex-DI Daniel Hawthorne.
Everyone in Riverview Close hates Giles Kenworthy, an entitled hedge fund manager who bought Riverview Lodge from chess grandmaster Adam Strauss when the failure of Adam’s chess-themed TV show forced him and his wife, Teri, to downsize to The Stables at the opposite end of the development. So the surprise when Kenworthy’s wife, retired air hostess Lynda, returns home from an evening out with her French teacher, Jean-François, to find her husband’s dead body is mainly restricted to the manner of his death: He’s been shot through the throat with an arrow. Suspects include—and seem to be limited to—Richmond GP Dr. Tom Beresford and his wife, jewelry designer Gemma; widowed ex-nuns May Winslow and Phyllis Moore; and retired barrister Andrew Pennington, whose name is one of many nods to Agatha Christie. Detective Superintendent Tariq Khan, feeling outside his element, calls in Hawthorne and his old friend John Dudley as consultants, and eventually the case is marked as solved. Five years later, Horowitz, needing to plot and write a new novel on short notice, asks Hawthorne if he can supply enough information about the case to serve as its basis, launching another prickly collaboration in which Hawthorne conceals as much as he reveals. To say more, as usual with this ultrabrainy series, would spoil the string of surprises the real-life author has planted like so many explosive devices.
Gloriously artificial, improbable, and ingenious. Fans of both versions of Horowitz will rejoice.Pub Date: April 16, 2024
ISBN: 9780063305649
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
As an adjunct member says, “You’re not a family, you’re a force.” Exactly, though not in the way you’d expect.
The ne’er-do-well son of a successful Irish American family gets dragged into criminal complications that suggest the rest of the Devlins aren’t exactly the upstanding citizens they appear.
The first 35 years in the life of Thomas “TJ” Devlin have been one disappointment after another to his parents, lawyers who founded a prosperous insurance and reinsurance firm, and his more successful siblings, John and Gabby. A longtime alcoholic who’s been unemployable ever since he did time for an incident involving his ex-girlfriend Carrie’s then 2-year-old daughter, TJ is nominally an investigator for Devlin & Devlin, but everyone knows the post is a sinecure. Things change dramatically when golden-boy John tells TJ that he just killed Neil Lemaire, an accountant for D&D client Runstan Electronics. Their speedy return to the murder scene reveals no corpse, so the brothers breathe easier—until Lemaire turns up shot to death in his car. John’s way of avoiding anything that might jeopardize his status as heir apparent to D&D is to throw TJ under the bus, blaming him for everything John himself has done and adding that you can’t trust anything his brother has said since he’s fallen off the wagon. TJ, who’s maintained his sobriety a day at a time for nearly two years, feels outraged, but neither the police investigating the murder nor his nearest and dearest care about his feelings. Forget the forgettable mystery, whose solution will leave you shrugging instead of gasping, and focus on the circular firing squad of the Devlins, and you’ll have a much better time than TJ.
As an adjunct member says, “You’re not a family, you’re a force.” Exactly, though not in the way you’d expect.Pub Date: March 26, 2024
ISBN: 9780525539704
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
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